Display



2, 1939. R. N. WALLACH 2,170,70i

DISPLAY Filed March 11, 1937 i Q F4 2; h lglllll nlllli BLIENDED 1/2 WHISKEY XXXX INVENTOR A 060? A4 Mama/1' BY i 7 a g ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 22, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DISPLAY Application March 11,. 1937, Serial No. 130,320

2 Claims.

The invention relates in general to display devices and, in particular, to a process and means for anchoring articles of merchandise to a suitable base for displaying and retailing such articles.

An effective way of advertising articles of merchandise is to exhibit them in specie directly before the eyes of the consuming public. It is for this reason: that vendors invariably create attractive window, counter and other displays of their goods to be sold. Where the articles of merchandise are displayed on store counters or other places to which the public has physical access, pilferage in many cases is facilitated and frequently occurs. Moreover, the accidental removal or breakage of the goods frequently occurs.

The general object of the invention is to effectively anchor or fasten articles of merchandise to a suitable display device, counter or the like.

Another object is to provide means for preventing the pilferage or accidental removal of articles of merchandise from a display device, counter or the like.

,A specific object of the invention is to provide a process and means for anchoring goods to a base in such a manner as not to detract from the apinvention is preferably in the form of a seamed or seamless tubing formed of a non-fibrous material that will shrink upon the loss of solvent and/or swelling agent, such, for example, as cellulose hydrate, which may be derived by regenerating viscose or any suitable cellulosic solution or by completely or partially denitrating cellulose nitrate, or of hydrated cellulose, cellulose esters, cellulose ethers, synthetic resins, gelatin, casein or the like.

While the anchoring material may be adhesively secured to the article and/or base, it is preferable to employ a tumefied seamless tubing composed of or containing cellulose hydrate and to shrink such a tubing about the article and/or a suitable part of the base by drying.

The anchorage pellicle may be transparent or opaque and/or attractively colored to match or contrast with the article and may be provided with indicia of an informative or decorative character.

According to the invention, a sheet material, preferably a transparent seamless tubular pellicle of a non-fibrous cellulosic material, is suitably secured to an article of merchandise as by shrinking or by an adhesive or the like in such a manner as to serve in binding the article to a suitable selfsustaining support.

The invention accordingly comprises the several steps and the relation of one or more of such steps with respect to each of the others thereof, which will be exemplified in the method hereinafter disclosed, and an article having the,elements and relation of elements one to another, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 illustrates, in a side view, an article of merchandise anchored to a base according to one embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a front view of the article illustrated in Fig. 1; I

Fig. 3 illustrates another embodiment of the invention wherein articles of merchandise areanchored to an inclined surface; 7

Fig. 4 shows another embodiment of the. invention in which a container is suspended from a horizontal surface;

Fig. 5 illustrates a display device to which articles of merchandise are anchored according to another embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 6 shows another embodiment of means for anchoring a container to a base according to the invention; and

Fig. '7 illustrates another embodiment of means for anchoring an article of merchandise to a base according to the invention.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 and 2, a pellicle, such as a tubing or band I of a nonfibrous cellulosic material, is suitably shrunk onto or adhesively secured to an article such as a bottle 2 in such a manner as to provide an overhanging portion 3 which may be inserted through an aperture such as a slot 4 in a self-sustaining support 5 and which may be held in the relation shown by any suitable means such as a clamp 6. The support 5 may be any suitable part of a store counter, table, display device or the like which may be horizontally, vertically or angularly disposed.

In Fig. 3 there is shown a portion of a display device wherein an article of merchandise 1 has a tubular pellicle 9 secured thereto in such a manner as to provide an overhanging portion Ill which is inserted into an aperture II of the inclined self-sustaining support [2. In this embodiment of the invention, the portion I0 is preferably twisted, thus providing the necessary an.- chorage tothe support I2 by frictional engagement with the side walls of the aperture II.

An article of merchandise may be suspended from a horizontally or angularly disposed surface according to the invention as shown in Fig. 4, wherein a bottle l3 or the like has a portion of a tubular pellicle It secured to the upper end thereof, the remaining portion l5 of the tubular pellicle It being preferably twisted and. threaded through an opening I 6 in the surface IT and maintained in the relation shown by any suitable means such as a clamp [8.

Another embodiment of the display device of the invention is shown in Fig. 5 in which articles of merchandise H! are mounted on a support 20 having one or more radially projecting studs 2| to which the articles I 9 are anchored by means of tubular pellicles 22, each of which embraces both the articles l9 and the stud 2|. The support 20 may have any suitable surface configuration such as circular, semi-circular, etc.

Another embodiment of the invention is shown in Fig. 6 wherein an article of merchandise such as a bottle 23 is anchored to a self-sustaining support such as a weight 24 by means of a tubular pellicle 25 which embraces both the bottle and the Weight, the latter of which preferably coincides on its top surface with the cross-sectional shape of the bottle 23. The weight 24 in this embodiment renders pilferage impractical or much more difficult. Moreover, accidental removal or upsetting of the articles is also inhibited by this arrangement. Thus the process of the invention may be employed for exhibiting open vessels such as tumblers containing liquids without fear of the liquid being spilled.

Another embodiment of the invention is illustrated in Fig. 7 in which a tubular pellicle 26 is shrunk or wrapped about an article of merchandise 21 in such a manner as to provide a tubular overhanging portion 28 which is disposed within a tapered opening 29 in the self sustaining support 30 and maintained therein by means of a tapered plug 3i which is adapted to be frictionally or otherwise held in the relation shown. The pellicle 26 may constitute the ordinary outer wrapper for the article 21.

While various embodiments of the invention have been shown, it is within the purview of the invention to anchor or suspend articles of merchandise at any desired angle and by any means equivalent to those disclosed. Any suitable means, such as a tearing band or string, may be inserted between the anchoring pellicle and the article to facilitate the removal of the pellicle when desired.

The term self -sustaining support as employed in the specification and claims is used in a generic sense to include any suitable portion of a display device, a store counter, a. portable plate or stand, a weight or any suitable fixture or surface normally employed in the exhibition of articles of merchandise and which is capable of maintaining itself in an erect position or in any position which it may be placed or may be existing, and is thereby capable of supporting articles attached to it in desired display positions.

The term article of merchandise is used here in to connote any commodity whether it be unwrapped or disposed within a package, jar, bottle, box, can, or the like.

Since certain changes may be made in carrying out the above method without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that ali matter contained in the above description shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A display device of the class described, comprising a self-sustaining support having an opening therein and an article of merchandise having a portion of a tube of shrinkable material shrunk thereon and a portion extending therefrom, the extending portion of the tube being disposed within the opening and fastened to the support to hold the article in display position.

2. A display device comprising a self-sustaining support having an aperture therein, an artiole of merchandise, and a band of shrinkable material shrunk on said article of merchandise and having a portion extending therefrom, the said portion being engaged within said aperture and retained therein by frictional engagement to hold the article in display position.

ROGER N. WALLACH. 

